Felix, Juri, Stevenson, Philip ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0736-3619 and Koricheva, Julia (2025) Species-specific tree diversity effects on leaf traits and growth of Scots pine and Norway spruce at two spatial scales. Oikos. ISSN 0030-1299 (Print), 1600-0706 (Online) (In Press)

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Abstract

Tree species diversity-mediated leaf trait variation is increasingly recognised as a factor that can influence ecosystem processes such as herbivory and tree growth across different forest communities. However, results from comparisons of tree monocultures and species mixtures remain inconsistent, suggesting that diversity effects are context-dependent. We elucidated these contextual factors using the Satakunta tree diversity experiment to assess how diversity effects are impacted by tree species identity, stand density, and spatial scale.
By comparing the responses of light-demanding Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and shade-tolerant Norway spruce (Picea abies), we show that the factors influencing diameter at breast height (DBH) and leaf traits differ between these two species with different life history strategies. Pine needle terpene concentrations were lowest in neighbourhoods dominated by conspecifics, while spruce needle terpenes were unaffected by tree species composition. Increasing canopy cover reduced spruce dry needle mass but had no effect on the dry needle mass of pines. Likewise, the factors that influenced tree growth differed between species; spruce DBH was lowest in thinned stands but was unaffected by tree species composition, whereas pine DBH did not vary with plot density but was reduced in neighbourhoods containing silver birch (Betula pendula).
Our findings also suggest diversity effects on leaf traits may be highly localised, as statistical models assessing the effect of immediate neighbours on pine terpenes yielded significant results, whereas models assessing diversity effects on a plot-level did not. In contrast, significant effects of diversity were found on pine DBH at both neighbourhood and plot-level scale, suggesting that tree growth can be more responsive to plot-level factors than leaf traits.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Scots pine, Norway spruce, TreeDivNet, needle traits, Terpenes, DBH, diversity
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QK Botany S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Centre for Sustainable Agriculture 4 One Health > Chemical Ecology & Plant Biochemistry Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Centre for Sustainable Agriculture 4 One Health
Last Modified:	03 Dec 2025 11:46
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51884

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